New Delhi:
The Cricket Board of India (BCCI) has not yet released the central contract for male players for the year 2024-25. The reason is that after retirement of veterans like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja from T20, there are some reshuffle in the “A Plus” category. The board released the central contract list of 16 names in three categories on Monday, while the list of men is expected to come in the next few days. There were 30 names in the list of men last time. The retainership fee in the ‘A Plus’ category is seven crore rupees, while in the ‘A’ category it is five crore rupees. The players involved in grade ‘B’ and ‘C’ are paid three crore and one crore rupees respectively.
The stakeholders in the name of veterans are not unanimous
The Central contracts are prepared by the National Selection Committee in consultation with the head coach and secretary (Devjit Saikia). It is placed in front of the top council for approval. It is learned that not all stakeholders are unanimous on the issue of maintaining all senior players in the ‘A Plus’ category. There are players in this category in whose place are almost confirmed in the team of all three formats. Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja have retired from T20 Internationals. All three have now become players of two formats. Only Bumrah is a contender to make automatic space in the three format teams. An influential class of BCCI, however, wants the status quo to be maintained in the ‘A Plus’ category. Ravichandran Ashwin will not be in the ‘A’ category as he has already announced his retirement from international cricket.
Akshar and Iyer will get progress!
There is a strong possibility that Akshar Patel, who has been vice-captain for the recent England T20 International series, can be promoted to A category from ‘B’. Akshar is a regular member of ODI and T20 international teams and has also played 14 Tests for India so far. In the last session, Shreyas Iyer is set to return to this category. He has played 11 ODIs in this session.
This is the basis of getting a place in the contract
Any player needs to play three Tests or eight ODIs or 10 T20 matches during the calendar year to join the central contract list. It will also be interesting to see whether young Yashasvi Jaiswal is promoted from his category or not. They have the ability to play in all formats.
These players are claimants to get a place
In the new list, Bengal’s young fast bowler Akash Deep (Seven Tests), Sarfaraz Khan (three Tests) and all -round Nitish Kumar Reddy (five Tests and four T20 Internationals) are almost certain to get a place. Shardul Thakur and Rituraj Gaikwad were part of last year’s list, but they are not fulfilling the criteria required to make it to this list. His participation, however, will be decided in consultation with the head coach and secretary of the selection committee.